Unicorn
Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or
will he harrow the valleys after thee?
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u'-ni-korn (re'em (Nu 23:22; 24:8; Dt 33:17; Job 39:9,10; Ps
22:21; 29:6; 92:10; Isa 34:7)): "Unicorn" occurs in the King
James Version in the passages cited, where the Revised Version
(British and American) has "wild-ox" (which see).
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-Intractable
Job 39:9-12
-Horned
De 33:17; Ps 22:21; 92:10
-Great strength of
Nu 24:8; Job 39:10,11
-FIGURATIVE
Of the judgments of God
Isa 34:7
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the rendering of the Authorized Version of the Hebrew reem,
a word which occurs seven times in the Old Testament as the
name of some large wild animal. The reem of the Hebrew
Bible, however, has nothing at all to do with the one-horned
animal of the Greek and Roman writers, as is evident from De
33:17 where in the blessing of Joseph it is said; "his glory
is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like
the horns of a unicorn;" not, as the text of the Authorized
Version renders it, "the horns of unicorns." The two horns
of the ram are "the ten thousands of Ephraim and the
thousands of Manasseh." This text puts a one-horned animal
entirely out of the question. Considering that the reem is
spoken of as a two-horned animal of great strength and
ferocity, that it was evidently well known and often seen by
the Jews, that it is mentioned as an animal fit for
sacrificial purposes, and that it is frequently associated
with bulls and oxen we think there can be no doubt that,
some species of wild ox is intended. The allusion in Ps
92:10 "But thou shalt lift up, as a reeym, my horn," seems
to point to the mode in which the Bovidae use their horns,
lowering the head and then tossing it up. But it is
impossible to determine what particular species of wild ox
is signified probably some gigantic urus is intended. (It is
probable that it was the gigantic Bos primigeniua, or
aurochs, now extinct, but of which Caesar says, "These uri
are scarcely less than elephants in size, but in their
nature, color and form are bulls. Great is their strength
and great their speed; they spare neither man nor beast when
once; they have caught sight of them" --Bell. Gall. vi. 20.-
ED.)
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described as an animal of great ferocity and strength (Num.
23:22, R.V., "wild ox," marg., "ox-antelope;" 24:8;
Isa. 34:7,
R.V., "wild oxen"), and untamable (Job 39:9). It was
in reality
a two-horned animal; but the exact reference of the
word so
rendered (reem) is doubtful. Some have supposed it
to be the
buffalo; others, the white antelope, called by the
Arabs rim.
Most probably, however, the word denotes the Bos
primigenius
("primitive ox"), which is now extinct all over the
world. This
was the auerochs of the Germans, and the urus
described by
Caesar (Gal. Bel., vi.28) as inhabiting the
Hercynian forest.
The word thus rendered has been found in an Assyrian
inscription
written over the wild ox or bison, which some also
suppose to be
the animal intended (comp. Deut. 33:17; Ps. 22:21;
29:6; 92:10).
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reem. In Deuteronomy 33:17, "his (Joseph's) horns are like
the horns of an unicorn" (so margin rightly, not
"unicorns"); "the ten thousands of Ephraim and the thousands
of Manasseh," two tribes sprung from the one Joseph, are the
two horns from one head. Therefore the unicorn was not as is
represented a one-horned animal, but some species of urns or
wild ox. The rhinoceros does not "skip" as the young unicorn
is represented to do (Psalm 29:6). The unicorn's
characteristics are:
(1) great strength, Numbers 23:22; Job 39:11;
(2) two horns, Deuteronomy 33:17;
(3) fierceness, Psalm 22:21;
(4) untameableness, Job 39:9-11, where the unicorn,
probably the wild bison, buffalo, ox, or urus (now only
found in Lithuania, but then spread over northern temperate
climes, Bashan, etc., and in the Hercynian forest, described
by Caesar as almost the size of an elephant, fierce, sparing
neither man nor beast) stands in contrast to the tame ox
used in plowing, Job 39:11-12;
(5) playfulness of its young, Psalm 29:6;
(6) association with "bullocks and bulls" for
sacrifice, Isaiah 34:6-7;
(7) lifting up the horn, Psalm 92:10, as bovine
animals lower the head and toss up the horn.
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But my horn shalt thou exalt like [the horn of] an unicorn: I
shall be anointed with fresh oil.
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God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the
strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his
enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce [them]
through with his arrows.
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Aurochs, or wild ox (urus, bos primigenius), is undoubtedly the rimu of the Assyrian inscriptions, and consequently corresponds to the re'em or rêm of the Hebrews. The latter word is translated sometimes in our D.V. by rhinoceros (Numbers 23:22; 24:8; Deuteronomy 33:17; Job 39:9, 10), sometimes by unicorn (Psalm 22:21; 29:6; 92:10; Isaiah 34:7). That the re'em, far from being unicorn, was a two-horned animal, is suggested by Ps., xxii, 21, and forcibly evidenced by Deut., xxxiii, 17, where its horns represent the two tribes of Ephraim and Manasses. That, moreover, it was akin to the domestic ox is shown from such parallelisms as we find in Ps., xxiv, 6, where we read, according to the critical editions of the Hebrew text: "The voice of Yahweh makes Lebanon skip like a bullock, and Sirion like a young re'em"; or Is., xxxiv, 7: "And the re'em shall go down with them, and the bulls with the mighty"; and still more convincingly by such implicit descriptions as that of Job, xxxix, 9, 10: "Shall the rêm be willing to serve thee, or will he stay at thy crib? Canst thou bind the rêm with thy thong to plough, or will he break the clods of the valleys after thee?" These references will be very clear, the last especially, once we admit the re'em is an almost untamable wild ox, which one would try in vain to submit to the same work as its domestic kin. Hence there is very little doubt that in all the above-mentioned places the word aurochs should be substituted for rhinoceros and unicorn. The aurochs is for the sacred poets a familiar emblem of untamed strength and ferocity. It no longer exists in western Asia.
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